Testimony

Miracles

By Chuck Martindale
From an article written November 2004

IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE in miracles you need not read any further, because on November 18, 1996, at approximately 8:00 a.m. Jesus Christ delivered me from alcoholism and filled me with the Holy Spirit and with the hunger and thirst for his word.

The amazing part of this transformation is that no one, I mean no one, was talking to me about Jesus Christ or trying to lead me to the Lord. I had gone to church as a young child, but I was now forty-four years old and had been an alcoholic for twenty-six years. I had been divorced for thirteen years, had two sons I rarely saw and did not support. There was not a day in that twenty-six years that I did not drink unless I was sick or in the hospital. On this day I was asking the Lord not to let me get drunk again as I had been asking him for months, but I continued every night doing the same thing.

I was what they called a "functioning alcoholic." I got up early and worked hard and made it to the bar early so I could go to bed early. Later on, as the Spirit led me to study his word I read the passage in Romans 7:15 (KJV): "For that which I do I allow not; for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that I do."

It was as if this was written for me; I knew this feeling. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I couldn't stop. Only the power of the Holy Spirit could take away the desire to drink and replace it with the desire to study his word.

Since I didn't know any Christians, I wasn't sure what to do or where to go, so I visited a couple of churches and found a home church. Then I started going to an accountability group, got involved in Promise Keepers, and read the Bible every chance I got. With this new birth I had a peace that I had never had; life couldn't get any better.

Then God did another miracle. I visited my parents in Florence, Alabama, where my wife and sons also lived. My father's birthday falls on the same day as my wife's mother's birthday, so I invited all the family to dinner. Well, God took over from there and in no time he restored our marriage. My wife and both my sons moved to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. If God had asked me when I first was saved if there was anything that he could do for me, I would not have asked for my family back, because I thought that was impossible. Perhaps the reason he did this was to say, "Chuck, I'm God, I can do all things." I think now sometimes we don't ask God for certain things because we think they are impossible. There is nothing impossible for our God.

I stepped out in faith by starting the Truth Evangelistic Ministry where I visit rehabilitation centers and tell of the good news and the healing that Jesus Christ had done in my life. Not long after, my wife and I started having problems. It was very difficult for her to forgive me, and I could understand why. The Lord was with me and he would tell me through scripture what was happening. I would read 'you reap what you sow.' I had sown some very bad seed, and there would be no crop for a while. The Lord forgave me, but it was much more difficult for my wife and we separated.

Shortly thereafter our youngest son (nineteen years old) was in an auto accident. He had a severe brain injury - we were told that he could die. My wife works in surgery and she had the best surgeons called in. They reported our son was to die that night.

My biggest fear was not that he was going to die, but that he didn't know Jesus Christ. I had not told him about salvation yet; I was waiting for that perfect moment. I went into the chapel in the hospital and the Holy Spirit prayed for me, because I didn't know what to say. The prayer went like this: "Dear Heavenly Father, I have nothing to offer you, and if it be your will to take my son, it will not change how I feel about you. You know what it is like to have your Son in pain as He was here on earth, and you know what it is like to have your Son come home. It had to be a glorious day in heaven when Jesus returned. I promise you that if you will allow my son to come home, he will know your Son."

My son is now twenty-four years old, owns his own home and business. It took years for his rehabilitation, he had to learn how to walk, and to talk, to read again - but the best news is that he is a born-again believer in Jesus Christ. Another miracle.

I sold my business during this crisis, so within a very short time I had been separated from my wife and family, almost had my son die, and had lost my business. I stayed on my knees and face most of the time in prayer, weeping, not understanding why God had given my wife back to take her away. Then one night in prayer I realized I was to accept her just like he had accepted me - just the way I was. All God wanted me to do was to love her and he would do the rest.

While I was waiting on our reuniting, I felt led to missions. I knew that I was not saved only to go to church on Sunday and sit in a pew. Several mission associations required college and language skills. Then I learned about a man name Charles Chatman in Missouri who had been going to Haiti for more than twenty years. When I reached him, he asked me if I wanted to go to Haiti. All I remember is saying yes.

That was five years ago. I have made twenty-two trips since November of 1999. I have had the privilege to help build nine churches and an orphanage, to help feed thousands of starving Haitians, and to deliver medical supplies, but most of all to share the love of Christ with a country that is filled with voodoo. I had prayed that God would show me what He had saved me for, and on the first trip I knew this was my calling. It wasn't long after this first trip that the Lord restored my marriage, and my wife through Jesus Christ was able to forgive me.

It says in John 15:16 (KJV): "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." He not only ordained me, but my church ordained me as a minister in 2004.

I continue to serve in Haiti and when I am home I visit churches and organizations telling of the miracles our Lord has done in the lives of my family and the wonderful work He is doing in Haiti.

As Peter and John in Acts 4:20 said, "for we cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard." I have seen the miracles and I am one of them. I cannot help but to proclaim his name, Jesus.